Stock Market & Financial Investment News

Analyst says Express Scripts won't be hurt by private exchangesExpress Scripts (ESRX), which provides pharmacy benefit management services, is unlikely to be significantly hurt by private health insurance exchanges, research firm Jefferies believes. Investor worries about the impact of such exchanges on the company is overdone, the firm added. WHAT'S NEW: Following reports yesterday that several major companies are looking to place their retired workers into a private health insurance exchange, Jefferies analyst Brian Tanquilut wrote that such exchanges have been around for several years and have not significantly affected Express Scripts or its competitors. Moreover, many investors do not realize that Express Scripts' profit margins from the exchanges are not much lower than its margins from the large companies, Tanquilut contended. Finally, as a result of the shift of beneficiaries onto private exchanges, Express Scripts will have the opportunity to win new customers currently covered by its competitors, the analyst believes. He expects the stock to start advancing in the fourth quarter of this year and kept a Buy rating on the shares. WHAT'S NOTABLE: Express Scripts' stock fell slightly in an up market yesterday, as did shares of its competitor Catamaran (CTRX). TODAY'S PRICE ACTION: In early trading today, Express Scripts added 0.5% to $65 and Catamaran rose 0.45% to $45.60